My Story: Kelly Jo and overactive bladder

Living with overactive bladder, or OAB, can make certain aspects of life challenging, but there are ways you can manage your symptoms. In this video, Kelly Jo shares her OAB diagnosis story and how she's learned to take control of her condition.

Transcript

00:00

Having OAB, you have to be your own best advocate so you and your doctor can get right to the heart

00:06

of the issues. I first experienced my OAB symptoms about 10 years ago.

00:14

The urologist did more testing, more in-depth urinary samples, and also ultrasounds. They originally thought it maybe was interstitial cystitis,

00:23

and that was a little bit of a scarier diagnosis. But then I figured out it was more likely overactive bladder

00:30

syndrome. Wednesday, can you sit? Medication is a really useful tool for this.

00:37

I definitely noticed that it made a difference overall, day to day, when I did try it. I would like to take back control of my life

00:45

by not having to think about what's going to cause me pain every single day for very normal

00:52

things, like eating a meal. I think the best case scenario, with living with OAB, would be to be able to just, you know, be a little bit

01:01

more spontaneous, and not have anything hold me back, because it really sucks when everyone else around you

01:09

gets to do something and you don't, and it's just because of the condition that I have.

01:16

So I'm an actor and a writer, and I do some other artistic endeavors. With theater stuff it's definitely noticeable,

01:23

especially if it's a longer show, so I definitely think of my life in terms of scheduled bathroom

01:30

breaks. Living with OAB stinks. And when me and my friends go out, because I'm always running off to the bathroom,

01:36

they love to call me bladder gladder. It's really hard to do that without like, immediately laughing.